Illegal shark fishing in Ecuador and other countries helps feed a demand for shark fin soup in Asia. The practice has put pressure on many shark species, some of which have become endangered or threatened with extinction.

In the Galapagos, illegal shark fishing and finning — the act of cutting off the fins — took off in the late 1990s when the local sea cucumber fishery collapsed.

The Galapagos, an island chain made famous by Charles Darwin and his "Origin of Species," was declared a U.N. World Heritage site in 1979.